Empowerment for Women Leaders

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2013

…I had while lugging big pieces of construction debris several yards to an industrial dumpster.

The skylight job boss requested me for the next day’s work but alas, I got ‘sick’ for the first time in 7 years (!) and couldn’t go… when I felt a little better, the temp agency guy said he had work, which I presumed was the skylight job. It was 26 degrees, so I donned my Coveralls [see Pie in the Sky! for the photo of this man-magnetizing garment 😉 ]. By the time I found out it was a McDonald’s remodel, I had already committed and, as mentioned in the tagline, there was a huge pile of heavy, bulky stuff that needed to be dragged to the big trash bin…

One piece in particular, a 3 x 6 foot wood pallet with cardboard sides nailed to it, was ree-DIQUE-u-lously heavy. I couldn’t pry the cardboard off nor could I move it very far very fast. I got more and more frustrated and asked finally myself WHY I kept punishing myself by doing these icky, backbreaking jobs (!). (Part of it is my fear that they’re the only thing available and that’s legitimate; I have applied – see video 1 – for all kinds of stuff, all over this town and I swear, not one company for which I filled out an application called me back. Musta been my green hair and 5 nose piercings… not!)

Background: every time the temp agency man talks to one of the bosses about me, he tells them I work as hard as any man (and I smugly agree to myself in my most toughguy inside voice: “Yeah!” while conjuring up the feeling of curling my arm to make my bicep bulge), and it’s true: I work very hard and have oft felt so proud that I keep up with 20-something-year-olds on job sites. Yet, as I fought with that cardboard-sided pallet, while miserably sore-throat coughing, it hit me:

I was out in the work force being the ‘MAN’!!!!

Why? Because it’s all I knew! I had been my kids’ ‘dad’ as much as a woman could while raising them and it had become my default tendency!!! OMG! I realized right then and there that I was SICK and TIRED of being the MAN! (And oh, how it had affected the guys I attract!) I decided I don’t have to be the man anymore, in public or private, at work or at play. What a RELIEF! I was OVERJOYED to unearth my two-decades-long pattern / habit. More good news: just after making my discovery, a real male from the temp agency arrived to lift the stuff I could not. He is a great guy with a positive attitude; working with him really lifted my spirits, AND, as a bonus, he is going to change my oil for only $20! The strain and strife was worth it to realize, at my tender age (ha ha ha HA!) that I can be my feminine, womanly self. 😀

So, unable to face another facility (aka Port-A-Potty) in 25-degree weather, I slept in ’til 8 o’clock one morning. The temp agency guy called, asked if I wanted to work (dreadful thought but with bills to pay and nothin’ else goin’…), said I would hug him when he gave me my assignment.

Turned out to be on top of a 6-floor hotel, helping to install skylights for $10 an hour. Yeyyyy! (Yes, I hugged him!) I was dressed really warmly and knew that beneath me, whenever I desired it, were indoor plumbing and running water!

My primary tasks were to clean up the original pressure bars, into which the plexiglass panels are fitted.

I got to use a special drill to bolt each pressure bar to a 2 x 4 wood plank.

Then, I used a wide electric knife to shave old caulking off of one side and a narrow knife to remove a tar-like substance from the other side. Electric knives are the coolest things EVER! (Did I mention that I’m a tool addict?!) Bzzzzz! and off goes the old stuff!

Very little heavy lifting! Mostly precise, cosmetic work, which I enjoy so much.

There was a feeling of freedom, being up above the rest of the world. The views were awesome.

The hotel is beautiful.

It took everything I had not to jump into the jacuzzi, coveralls and all. 🙂

What I learned:

1. There are outside jobs that pay decently. 2. They aren’t all backbreaking. 3. They aren’t all dusty and dirty. 4. One can always add a little pizzazz or glamour, no matter what (note the scarf ;).

5. Often, the co-workers are nice, fun to work with and have good senses of humor. 6. If they swear in my presence, it doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of respect; it’s just how they speak.